painting fuel tank

Post by **wibble_puppy** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 6:14 pm

ah, hang on, i think i see where you are going with that one......

- yes?

Post by **Onne** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 6:40 pm

a £83,50 secret then?

Post by **Packedup** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 8:21 pm

wibble_puppy wrote: 1. Rub down (getting rid of any rust with a wire brush)

Depending on your level of fire paranoia (I have a slightly cavalier attitude to these things ;) ) if it's a s/h tank with a whiff of petrol to it then youmight want to be careful with a wire bush - These can quite easily give off sparks, and I'm sure someone somewhere will have a tale of woe about wire brushing a fumey tank...

4. Paint it with chassis paint

Hurrah, an expert vote for chassis paint/ black

Post by **wibble_puppy** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 8:00 pm

Update:

I got sudden doubts as follows:

1. If using petrol to swish out, and nuts and bolts as the ballast, would I be risking a leetle explosion?

2. Would the nuts n bolts damage the sender unit?

So I asked Harry for more details (he hasn't hit me yet

)

He reckons you take the sender unit off the tank first. Then look inside and try to establish the extent of rust and debris. Bear in mind the baffles inside the tank, designed both to stop the fuel sloshing about too much in motion and to help the sender give an accurate reading. Empty out all the crud you can. Then put in half a litre or so of WD40 or duck oil, and a dozen nuts and bolts (counting them!). Shake it all about and empty it out. The tank will then dry naturally as the WD40 will evaporate.

Phew!

juliet

Post by **rayofleamington** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 11:22 pm

I did mine yesterday without the gravel or nuts and bolts - I just swilled it out. I would recommend not to use anything large as you risk damaging the filter. I got a nit of muck out and was happy to leave the rust where it is as I don't have time to do more than that.
On mine I had to destroy the filter anyway as I needed to un-bung the small opening at the end of the pickup pipe

There was a degree of surface rust on mine but it had been sitting empty for 30 years - Fortunately none of the rust looked severe but the biggest problem was the limescaley stuff which was probably caused by standing so long (the sender unit was barely recogniseble and the debris needed to be removed with a sharp screwdriver.

Post by **wibble_puppy** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 2:23 am

ah, ray, i have this mental image of us at the national web site rally, sitting relaxed in deck chairs, sipping our G&Ts, each with our fuel tank tucked under our arms, stroking them idly while telling tales of their frisky ways while going through their riotous middle-age.....

Post by **rayofleamington** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 9:10 am

Mine won't be under my arm - it's already back in the car and connected. Hopefully it will be in the carpark, but that depends how many more unexpected jobs need doing before the MOT...

Post by **bigginger** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 11:18 am

I've got a couple of U/S ones you can adopt if you like...

Post by **wibble_puppy** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 11:21 am

we could flock them and pretend they were enormous guinea pigs

Post by **bigginger** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 11:24 am

Yes - just what I was thinking... (??????)

Post by **wibble_puppy** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 11:30 am

Post by **Packedup** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 4:01 pm

wibble_puppy wrote:we could flock them and pretend they were enormous guinea pigs

Don't be so stupid, that would never work!

People would notice you're not having to feed them enormous cucumbers every five seconds...

Post by **paulk** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 4:04 pm

Now I have an image of flocks of fuel tanks covered in fur running around the place arrgh

Post by **Relfy** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 8:25 pm

I've got a couple of U/S ones you can adopt if you like...

?? I know I'm being really sad, but all i can think that means is 'Up-Stream'... aagghh! I need to change jobs!! ... what does it really mean?

Post by **bigginger** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 8:49 pm

Unseviceable - you do need to get on the board more - we had that discussion months ago!

Post by **bigginger** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 9:03 pm

Unseviceable - you do need to get on the board more - we had that discussion months ago!

Post by **Scott** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 5:03 am

OK Andrew, we heard you the first time

.

Ray, those filters don't seem to be serviceable items, ie: once they're off the pickup pipe, they're off for good.
I've found that they're very useful though in stopping blockages of the pickup pipe though. I use one now on my non-standard tank after a few pickup blockages

.

Post by **bigginger** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 12:07 pm

Very queer - the hyper space-fairies held on to that for quarter of an hour before re-posting it...
Where's the 'delete post' button gone, BTW?

Post by **rayofleamington** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 12:29 pm

Ray, those filters don't seem to be serviceable items, ie: once they're off the pickup pipe, they're off for good.
I've found that they're very useful though in stopping blockages of the pickup pipe though. I use one now on my non-standard tank after a few pickup blockages

If I'd realised it was only a 5 gallon tank I'd not have bothered spending so much unblocking it. Doh!
Ah well - it'll last until after the MOT as the test station is less than half a mile away

At least the shorter filler tubes will fit if/when I've changed the tank to a later/bigger one.